First of all sorry for the (slight) thread necro! I got a bit lazy at the tail end of the year, and sorely neglected recording my thoughts on the games I had beaten. This could also be seen as maintaining a greater focus on playing games than on writing about them (which is a total excuse, but hey whatevs). At any rate, in the interest of record keeping I wanted to do a quick year end post to chronicle the last quarter of my gaming in 2015.

I actually wrote up a somewhat lengthy analysis of this game after beating it, mainly because I found the history of the game to be very interesting. I'm going to post the contents of that analysis for posterity and without alteration (or editing for that matter). Don't worry this is the longest analysis in this post! The rest are fairly brief since I mainly wanted to post some sort of gaming journal in the interest of getting caught up.

Continuing a rather protracted retracing of the Super Mario Bros. lexicon, I've made an intentional effort to take my time, slow down, and observe some of the more obscure facets of that universe. Accordingly it was practically obligatory that I play through Doki Doki Panic in order to observe the unsullied source of one of my favorite SMB games in its natural habitat. Would this game shine more brightly than SMB2 in the light of its original artistic intent? Or was SMB2 the patch-over this game needed in order to smooth out any remaining rough edges? Should discerning hipsters turn up their noses in spurn at SMB2 claiming that Doki Doki Panic is "better than Mumford & Sons holding a concert at an organically grown tomatillo farm"? Read on to find out!

Let's talk trivia (full disclosure: I had to look most of this stuff up, but I found it interesting enough to warrant analysis here. Sorry for the errata!). While the game is commonly referred to simply as Doki Doki Panic in the west, it's full title is Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panikku which translates as "Dream Factory: Heart-Pounding Panic" ("Doki Doki" is onomatopoeia for the sound your heart makes when it's beating hard). As the title indicates, the game was developed to promote an event called Yume Kōjō '87 (Dream Factory '87) in cooperation with Fuji Television. According to the sources I've found this event was a carnival of sorts designed to promote the fall lineup of shows for Fuji TV. The duration of this event was from July 18 through August 30 of 1987. So what's the tie-in here? Well the characters featured in Doki Doki Panic were the mascots of the carnival event. Here's a television spot promoting the event in which you can see cartoon versions of the characters featured in the game.

Furthermore, if you watch that ad until the end you may notice that one of the themes of the event was (apparently) that Carnival (as in the festival most famously celebrated in Rio De Janeiro and which precedes Lint). More specifically the theme of the event seems to have incorporated the masks associated with Carnival (And yes I do think it's weird that the themes of Carnival were tied in with … Arabian mascots … but whatever). Have you ever noticed how many enemies in SMB2 are wearing masks? It's a bit crazy when you think about it, but it starts to make sense in this context.

Further cementing this concept is that all the turtle shells, mushrooms, and stage exits as depicted in SMB2 are actually displayed as masks in Doki Doki Panic (including the somewhat infamous blackface mask that was replaced with a turtle shell in SMB2 World 1-1).

The character mascots featured in Doki Doki Panic consist of a family of Arabian themed characters, namely two siblings Imajin (the "Mario character"), Lina ("Peach"), and their parents Mama ("Luigi") and Papa ("Toad").

So obviously there are a ton of identical aspects between Doki Doki Panic and SMB2. It really is nearly identical in most regards. Having said that, let's talk about some of the subtle differences between these titles before touching down on the common elements at the heart of these great games. The most immediate thing I noticed here is that there is no sprinting in Doki Doki Panic. So when your muscle memory starts to take over and you're continually holding down the B button, you're going to get … nothing. Mechanically this is the biggest change between the games. This will prove to feel very alien for any SMB veteran, but conversely is fairly easy to accommodate when you get used to it. The rest of the changes are relatively cosmetic, but if you've played SMB2 more than a couple of times you'll notice them fairly quickly. The biggest of these changes is that in comparison to SMB2 is that there's no "shrinkage" of characters upon taking damage. In Doki Doki Panic, you'll accumulate hit points is the familiar fashion, but you'll never shrink upon taking damage. There's also no Clawgrip boss in this game (The rock throwing crab that appears at the end of World 5-3 in SMB2). In his place you get yet another appearance of Mouser. In true Japanese game completionist fashion you also won't see the "true ending" of Doki Doki Panic until you've beaten the game with every character (we "lazy Westerners" got to see the true ending of SMB2 upon first completing the game regardless of chosen character). Beyond this point we get into some esoteric differences that you'll only see if you're really looking. You'll find that the Bonus Chance screen is really ugly in comparison to the nice presentation we see in SMB2. There are also a handful changes made to animations which were improved for the better in SMB2. Here in Doki Doki Panic the grass doesn't sway in the breeze … and is monochromatic black. The waterfall animation is much faster, bordering on seizure inducing. Various enemies had improved animation in SMB2 making them appear to have smoother illusions of movement. Ultimately SMB2 adds a level of polish to Doki Doki Panic that was not present in the source material (which is totally to be expected from a headlining Mario game vs. one that was developed to promote TV shows).

All told though, the things that make SMB2 a really great game have their inception here in this nice little FDS game. The vivid color palette, the memorable tunes, and the well conveyed "dreaminess" are all well-conceived and executed in Doki Doki Panic. In truth I need to hold back some of my praise in this regard, lest I have nothing to talk about when I complete Super Mario Bros. 2. For the purposes of my final thoughts I'll recommend this game for those that love SMB2 and are looking for an alternate take on the experience (guilty as charged) and for those folks who are interested in the general esoterica of the SMB series (also guilty). For everyone else I feel like I can safely recommend jumping straight to Super Mario Bros. 2 as it received a level of polish and perfection that was not present in Doki Doki Panic.

17. Fallout [PC/Steam]

This is the game where I lost my way in terms of providing a coherent end game summation. I honestly didn't know what to say about it, and in many was I still don't. First though let's start with some basics. The hype around this game is real (IMO). To my mind this is undoubtedly one of the greatest wRPGs of all time. It is an open world done right. Not an open world in where, "sure you can walk where ever you want, but in order to progress the plot you'll need to be funneled you through a specific ordered set of quests." No, this is an open world is the sense of, "Leave the opening area, and do whatever the hell you want." And in some ways that's what makes the game feel somewhat overwhelming. Every play through will be a unique and open ended experience. I love the way that your stats have weight and meaning in terms of how the game is played. Low intelligence effectively means you can't even communicate with anyone. High charisma will open up new dialog options and in some cases whole new quest paths. Furthermore, the karma system here is perfectly suited to the in-game world. You can be a shining paladin, or you can be a despicable serial killer, or even find the middle ground betwixt the two, and ultimately the world around you couldn't really care less. It's a very effective conveyance of the post-apocalyptic dystopia. In the words of Stephn King it's a world that has "moved on". Morals don't matter nearly as much as results, and in the end that's probably the game's crowning achievement. Although the post-apocalyptic dystopia had been done to death even at the time of this games release, Fallout created a world with such deft panache, such attention to detail, and with so many unique elements, that it became something incredibly memorable and wholly its own. Even months afterward I'm still trying to effectively put my thoughts together on this one, but this is hands down one of my favorite wRPGs I've played from its respective era.

18. Dead Island [PC/Steam]

This game is a jack of all trades master of none. It's a first person brawler, a driving game, a FPS, it has RPG elements, etc. The trouble with this is that so many of its ideas seem a little half-baked as a result, which ultimately leaves one with the impression that the developers were just trying to cram in features for the sake of cramming in features. Ten pounds of shit in a five pound bag if you will. The crazy part about all this is that it totally works. Sure there are parts of the game which seem slightly janky (ahem ... the driving sections) but all of these disparate parts somehow manage to gel together into a fun and horror filled end product. I do wish there were more island sections in Dead Island though. Of the four acts that comprise the game only one of them relies heavily on the island setting, and the rest are environments we've seen in countless other FPS and zombie games (a jungle, an urban setting, and a prison respectively). Don't get me wrong, all the environments are all executed nicely, it's just the bulk of them sort of have a "been there, done that" quality to them. At the end of the day I had a nice time with this one. At some point I'd like to go back for some co-op action, but for the time being, I think I'll be setting it aside. "Who do you voodoo, bitch," indeed.

19. Castlevania: The Adventure [GB]

Wow, Castlevania's first outing on the GameBoy is really something ain't it? I mean, wow it's just ... wow. Look, truth be known I think I could be more forgiving towards this game if it wasn't a Castlevania game. But it is a Castlevania game, and as such I feel that I need to make mention of how it fits in with the rest of the series, and as a Castlevania game it just feels exceedingly underwhelming to me. Especially at the time of this release, the games in the Castlevania series were not at all known for their mediocrity, so Castlevania: The Adventure stands in stark contrast due to the mediocrity at its core. I mean it's OK, I guess. I just feel like the developers were handed a checklist of "things to put in a Castlevania game," and they systematically went down the list adding those elements in. Whip? Check. Bats? Check. Dracula? Check. But in doing so they just didn't capture the spirit of its predecessors, the charm, the Gothic romance of it all. It's an empty robotic shell of a Castlevania game. But more than that, they added elements that made it feel distinctly unlike a Castlevania game. Vampire hunters don't climb ropes! They use the stairs like any other civilized human being with slight BSDM tendencies. So yeah, this game almost feels like one of those games that was released as something entirely different in Japan, and then rebranded as a series release in the West (because C.R.E.A.M. yo). I mean taken on its own merits, it's fine ... I guess, but when this game serves to dilute the greatness of the series as a whole, well I have no problems telling it to go straight to hell. tl;dr It's a mediocre game masquerading as a piss poor Castlevania game. Thank goodness better things were in store for Castelvania on the GameBoy ...

20. Maniac Mansion Deluxe [PC]

I had beaten this game on the NES, but never on the PC which to my mind is probably the definitive version. In order to mix things up a bit I opted for the LucasFan Games remake version of the Maniac Mansion (thus the Deluxe designation), and I was not disappointed. The updated graphics are quite nice, and nothing was left out. This game has all the magic and charm that you might expect from a LucasArts adventure game. Having said this, there are some elements of the game which make it feel a bit dated in terms of modern sensibilities. It is very much a product of the Eighties in terms of its humor, cultural references, and stylistic choices. But more than anything I think the game lacks modern pacing. This is a bit of a plodding game, which is to say that while the pacing in Maniac Mansion was an improvement upon even older adventure titles (like the early Sierra '-Quest' games for example) it's going to feel like it moves at a dogged pace for those more accustomed to something along the lines of Telltale adventures. Still and all though this is a masterful game, and although it may have ultimately been eclipsed by its sequel, it remains an essential experience for all adventure game fans. Speaking of which, I'm looking forward to diving into Day of the Tentacle at some point in the near future, and if I bide my time properly, I can probably hold off long enough for the release of the shiny new remastered version.

21. Resident Evil: Director's Cut - DualShock Ver. [PSX]

Can you believe that I had never played a Resident Evil game to completion!? I was always more of a Silent Hill guy, and the trappings of Resident Evil had always seemed a bit campy for my tastes. And you know what? Resident Evil is totally campy. But in a good way. This game is such a great homage to b-movie spook house flicks, and it's so self-aware of its influences that you can't help but have a good time with it. In fact this is probably one of the most cinematic gaming experiences I've ever had. Much has been made of the fixed camera angles in Resident Evil, but ultimately it was an incredibly effective choice in that it allows for the conveyance of cinematography vis-a-vis the gaming experience itself, and beyond the simple scope of the cut scenes. The fixed camera angles are supposed to be disorienting and unsettling. They are supposed to make you feel uncomfortable and clumsy. I don't think I really understood that part until I actually spent some time with the game, but it contributes immensely to the incredible atmosphere of the game. The voice acting ... well the less said about it the better, except that, once again it lends itself very well to the whole b-movie aesthetic of the game. I suspect that the choice of substandard voice acting wasn't necessarily a planned decision, but even if by serendipity it's yet another element which builds on atmosphere. In some ways I enjoyed the "spooky mansion" section of the game a lot more than the "bio-tech lab disaster" section, but what can you do? This is Biohazard after all. I'm really looking forward to digging into future games in the RE series now, but I generally like to cool down a bit between games, lest I start judging games as a series rather than each one on their individual merits (also series fatigue, yo). At any rate, I shouldn't have waited so long to play this masterpiece.

22. Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge [GB]

You know what? For this one I'm just going to paste in the notes that I took over the course of playing the game with only slight editing:

Love the callback to the original Castlevania in which the character walks across the screen before the beginning of each level. Stylistically this game seems to tie in much better with the series that birthed it.

The return of sub weapons! Yay!

The music is awesome!

Much better use of dithering in the graphical presentation. This game also looks more like Castlevania as we know it

The "Castlevania meets Mega Man" vibe is back. The music is awesome but faster paced and frenetic like Mega Man music. Rope climbing traversal, and spike pattern puzzles are all very reminiscent of Mega Man. Even going through the initial levels in order to make the final castle suddenly "spring from the earth" has a very Mega Man vibe to it

Jumping off ropes is a bit strange. Whereas the previous game would punish you for misjudging a jump from a rope, this game won't actually let you jump at all if you are slightly out of alignment. While this might seem more forgiving of the surface, in reality it makes the controls seem clunky and unresponsive in these spots.

I have to admit I felt a bit robbed at the end of each level when, after defeating the boss the crystal ball flies up and away rather than falling down to the ground (where the player can grab it). Come back Crystal Ball! I need you!

When mention was made of resurrecting all the four spirits, I almost expected a Mega Man style boss rush, but no it was just a hard as balls Dracula fight (in true Castlevania tradition).

If you're looking to get a toehold on Castlevania GameBoy releases, this is the one to start with.

23. Grim Fandango Remastered [PC/Steam]

This is one of those games that manages to get by purely on the strength of its wit, charm, and guile. And that's all it needs really. Sure the gameplay is sort of janky in parts. Sure the pacing is a hot mess. Sure there are several off the wall 'moon-logic' puzzles interspersed throughout. Sure the cut scenes in this 'remastered' version still look like pixelated nightmares. But you know what? None of that matters; not when the world as presented is so unique and compelling. Not when the atmosphere and aesthetics are so masterfully executed. Not when, despite their fantastical nature, the characters feel like real characters, with fantastic voice work to match. Not when this a rare example of a game that shoots for an 'epic' storyline and actually succeeds. In many ways this swan song of LucasArts adventure games is the capstone achievement representative of all their adventure games that had come before. Grim Fandango is an amalgamation of what made LucasArts adventures great, and yet it is also a representative example of many of the niggling issues found in the earlier LucasArts adventures. Overall though, the strengths of Grim Fandango outweigh its deficiencies. It's rightly considered one of LucasArts crowning achievements, but by the same token I think that nostalgia (and the fact that the game was unplayable on modern hardware for so long) had elevated it to god-like status when in actuality the game is not without its issues (minor though they might be). At any rate I think that adventure game fans will find a whole ton of stuff to enjoy here. I don't think I'd recommend it as "Baby's First Adventure Game" or anything, but really ... what in the hell are you letting your kids play in the first place? To (belatedly) tie off 2015, I leave you with this final food for thought:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_gE8DprzMI

Phew! Thankfully, that's all folks!

Last edited by nullPointer on Sat Apr 30, 2016 5:41 pm, edited 7 times in total.

Always nice when someone can still appreciate the original Resident Evil! If you're still fresh on the series, man you have a LOT of gold ahead. I also believe the remake of the first game is one of the best remakes ever made. Extremely faithful, with some additions that fit in perfectly. And if you plan to check it out, what better timing with it now being available on a lot more platforms with the HD release on the PS3/PS4, or you could get it on the Wii.

Your mileage will vary with the games, but you definitely have to check them all out now... RE2, RE3, RE4, RE5, Code Veronica, Zero, etc.

I too beat the Game Boy Castlevanias for the first time in 2015. I agree with what you said overall. These were my thoughts from last year...

Castlevania The Adventure (ER 3/10)

A century prior to the events of the original Castlevania, the player controls an ancestor of Simon Belmont, one Christopher Belmont, whom goes on an adventure to whip Dracula on the posterior because he was double dog dared to do it.

Yeah so Konami's first attempt at a Castlevania game on the Game Boy wasn't great. Actually it's flat out terrible. While the graphics are competent given the early release on the fledgling hardware, and the OST is fairly good, everything else suffers in this offering.

First off the overall speed of this game is molasses slow, apparently to offset the ghosting issue of the Game Boy screen. You constantly feel like you're trying to move in slow motion, a big problem when trying to fight enemies that move faster than you. The biggest issue is this game has some seriously sadistic platforming areas that would be more at home in a Mega Man game than Castlevania. This wouldn't be so bad except the overly confined jumping physics are trash combined with way too tight landing boxes for edges. Not to mention unfair copious enemy placement designed to knock you off a ledge if you manage to land on it at all. One can only assume the platforming difficulty was made extremely high purposefully to artificially extend the time it takes to finish this very short game. Bosses on the other hand are very easy to defeat, a good thing considering the timer constantly ticking down on each stage. You don't even get secondary weapons to throw. It's just your whip and grit here and a whole lot of spikes to land on.

Overall I wouldn't recommend this game to anyone, not even Castlevania fans. Its small positives are greatly outweighed by huge negatives. With not a single innovation brought to bear for its series either. This is one "adventure" you can feel safe missing out on.

Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (ER 7/10)

Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge feels like an apology from Konami for how bad the first Game Boy Castlevania game was. Many of Castlevania: The Adventure's problems were fixed here.

For one thing this game actually moves at a reasonable pace, and controls are far less sluggish. The player does not lose their power-ups simply because they get hit. Platforming has been made not only more forgiving, but much more creative as well. Graphics have improved and look quite nice, while the OST is consistently above average. A small measure of innovation for the series was introduced with the player able to pick which levels to tackle in what order, reminiscent of Mega Man. Secondary weapons are available now (although only the axe and holy water). Unlike the first Game Boy game, Belmont's Revenge feels like it actually wants the player to have fun playing it. With unlimited continues most of this game is a breeze to get through as well.

However the last two bosses represent a massive difficulty spike. Dracula especially is ridiculously difficult to defeat thanks to his over powered screen filling attack. Taking him down requires a serious commitment to pattern memorization on behalf of the player. Because of this, one may find what was once a fun game actually becomes a bitter experience in the end. Still all things considered, the majority of Belmont's Revenge is a pleasant challenge to endure. Especially in regards to the strong gothic atmosphere present here to explore. I recommend this Castlevania to fans of the series who can't get enough of "killing" the same undead dude over and over.

Castlevania Legends (ER 5/10)

Transylvania, 1450AD. Dracula has risen as an embodiment of all evil. Sonia Belmont vows to defeat him. As such she is the first Belmont to confront Dracula. But can she defeat the lord of darkness? Will Dracula's son Alucard help or hinder this situation? And most importantly of all, can Konami manage to make the experience actually entertaining? Seven years after the last Castlevania on Game Boy, Konami released Legends so we could find out. One might assume having that many years since iterations, Legends would have a lot to offer over Belmont's Revenge. I'm sad to say, that is not the case here.

The first noticeable issue is that Legend's graphics have taken a huge leap backwards from Belmont's Revenge. Sprite work is crude and sparsely animated, and the background artwork is absolutely primitive. Worse yet, the series' staple of having great music is entirely absent, as the OST on offer is paltry to put it nicely. Level progression has returned to being linear, and the levels on display are quite large. Unfortunately despite being large, the level design is bland and uninspired, with nary a clever or innovative concept to intrigue the player. Sonia herself is given some special abilities (one of which is duck walking, seriously). She has the power to go into a berserk mode which makes her invincible temporarily. Because of how this ability is triggered however, it's easy to accidentally trigger it and waste it. Outside that, secondary weapons are replaced with a magic system that uses hearts as magic points. A few magic abilities are useful, but overall you'll probably just wish you had the axe again. Legends is also a very easy game, far easier than earlier series entries on the Game Boy. You'll likely blow right through this game on your first play session. There are hidden collectable items to find to extend game time, but the benefit of finding these items isn't immediately clear to the player (or needed to defeat Dracula from my experience with the game).

It's a little confusing as to why Konami released Legends in 1998 at all. Perhaps the Pokemon craze that brought the Game Boy back to the forefront of gaming in 1998, was the impetus for this soulless obviously rushed Castlevania cash-in. Legends just comes across as amateurish in its presentation and design, a far cry from what the studio offered in 1991 with Belmont's Revenge. The one saving grace I can say about Legends, is that it has a strong female protagonist. At least her game is perfectly playable, albeit absolutely uninspired potboiler. It's too bad Sonia had to suffer through such a legendarily boring game.

Thankfully the Castlevania series took a major swing upward with the GBA entries.

Yes I beat it, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I only finished it because I wanted to be able to say I've beaten every Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS Castlevania game. I can say that now but the sexy Castlevania groupies still haven't shown up.

I'm not sure I ever finished Adventure. I know I never finished the third GB game, the one that is considered no longer canonical. Haven't finished (or even played much of) the MSX version, either.

That being said, I've played a ton of them. I'm really itching for another SotN-styled game, but since Konami seems no longer interested, I have to wait until IGA gets Bloodstained out. It's looking quite good, there's a survey for backers on which shader they prefer, and the character model is really solid.

No, seriously, check it out!

There's also a non-cel-shaded one, but it doesn't look as good in my opinion.